Article excerpt

In a ruling that toughens the task for Quebec's separatists,
Canada's Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision yesterday that
Quebec has no right to secede unilaterally from the federation.

Under the ruling, Quebec is allowed to secede, but it can do so
only after agreement with the federal government and the other nine
provinces. Separatists had claimed Quebec can secede if the province
votes to do so in a referendum.

"On the face of it, it seems to be a balanced judgment," says
Ghislain Otis, a law professor at Laval University in Quebec City.
"The court spelled out under what conditions {secession} could
actually take place." Because the ruling was balanced, he adds, it
could be difficult for the Quebec government to use it as an election
issue, though that may well happen.

Quebec separatists are expected to use the decision to bolster
their cause of forming an independent country. Constitutional
lawyers in Montreal say it is the first time a court in a Western
democracy has ruled on the right to secession.

Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard may use the decision to call an
early election in hopes of bolstering chances for a referendum.

Quebec's government was studying the 78-page decision before
making any announcement.

Separatists in Quebec have gambled twice before that public
opinion was in favor of independence, but they lost both times. The
initial defeat came in 1980, four years after the separatist Parti
Quebecois (PQ) was first elected under Premier Rene Levesque and
separation became an issue. The federalist side won 60 per cent of
the vote.

The referendum of October 1995 was a different story. It was
almost a tie, with the federalists winning by about 55,000 votes.

Court prodded to act

Following that close call, a federalist lawyer from Quebec City,
Guy Bertrand, began a personal campaign in the courts, seeking a
ruling that Quebec did not have the legal right to separate from
Canada. The federal government was forced by that move to seek the
advice of the nine-member Supreme Court on the constitutional issue.

After the ruling, Mr. Bertrand said that "it refutes what Quebec
nationalists have been saying for 30 years," that Quebeckers are an
oppressed, colonial minority. "The court says that you cannot ignore
the Constitution."

The court's decision was supposed to bring clarity to the issue.
"This is not a declaration about what Quebec can do, but how Quebec
can do it," says Bruce Ryder, a professor at the Osgoode Hall Law
School in Toronto. …